Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios will be looking to improve roster in 'all areas'

OTTAWA — As a first-year general manager, Steve Staios has proven to be calm, cautious and confident in the direction he wants to take the Ottawa Senators. 

And that was exactly how Staios presented his case on Friday morning regarding the future progress of the young Senators. 

Staios was not going to be pinned down on particulars of certain players, but spoke of the potential for growth with this team and the need to augment both the roster and the maturity level of his group. 

Interestingly, Staios said he did not use the exit meetings to inform any pending free agents, restricted or unrestricted, that they would not be returning. It wasn’t the time for that, he said. He also said while he would consider anything, he has no plans to exercise a buyout on any of his current contracts (hello, Travis Hamonic. Easy as she goes, Joonas Korpisalo).

Here are some of the main topics discussed with Ottawa media:

Where did this team go wrong? Personnel or performance?

“I would say it was a little bit of both,” Staios said. “Anytime you go through a situation like this, you know, get on the job for three-and-a-half months (Staios was made president in September but GM on Dec. 31), you try to have an impact on certain areas as much as you can. 

“It was a very important year for evaluation and how we’re going to approach moving forward. I just think we want to continue to grow from within. I think there’s massive potential for growth within this group. Now, in saying that, there are areas that need to be addressed. And that’s my job.”

How much change in personnel we can expect during the off-season, Staios wouldn’t say. 

“If we’re going to make changes they have to be made with the right intentions — to bring in the right people for the right positions,” Staios said. “And not just with the team. We’re working towards building a culture here  ...  that’s got to run right through the organization.”

Consistency the biggest disappointment

This edition of the Senators could be great. And awful. Rarely, there was middle ground. 

“Probably the biggest disappointment — we saw that when we played at our potential, that we were a very good team,” Staios said. “And in particular, against some of the contending teams.”

As a longtime former player, Staios understands that missing team targets can be a valuable motivating factor for players. 

“As hard as it is, they need to go through these scenarios and situations and years where it is utter disappointment,” Staios said. “Because it’ll only drive them to get better. They have to go through a year where there is conflict and there is turmoil. They need to learn how to deal with that. 

“As hard as the season was for us as managers, for our fans and players – it might be the most important year toward building this program, to get a team where we need to get to.”

Staios said he asked players during the exit meetings to do a lot of self-reflecting. Something that doesn’t happen much after winning seasons, he added. 

Coach search is ongoing

Staios said he has spoken to “a couple of people” as far as candidates for the vacant head coaching job but is in no rush. Interim head coach Jacques Martin will stay on as a consultant. 

“We have a longer list,” Staios said, of his ongoing coach search. “I think making sure that we take the appropriate amount of time to be able to look at everybody that may be available is important. Now, if, as we go through the process and you feel like we have the perfect candidate, then we would move on it. But at this point in time we’re still working through our list.” 

Alfredsson not a candidate

Not surprisingly, assistant coach and franchise icon Daniel Alfredsson is not on that list of candidates. 

“I had a great conversation with Alfie,” Staios said. “I could say that he’s not going to be in consideration for the head coaching job at this point in time. And I think that is something that we left a little open ended, but I think he does believe that if he does continue on the coaching path, he’ll need a little bit more time.”

The situation with the assistant coaches will fall into place once a head coach is named. 

Goaltending move TBD

Ottawa’s goaltending numbers were some of the worst in the league, so this will be an interesting area to watch in the months ahead. 

In saying he wasn’t considering any buyout moves at this time, Staios was also hinting that Joonas Korpisalo could return, given that he has four years remaining on his contract (AAV $4 million). That could be a difficult contract to move just because of the term. Anton Forsberg has one year left on a deal with a cap hit of $2.75M. 

“I’ve said it before, but I do believe the goaltenders we have are better than their numbers,” Staios said. “So, the question is, do you address that because they had off years? You know, there’s a number of areas that we need to address.”

Will the Senators try to shore up their goaltending with some veteran help? Mads Sogaard remains a good prospect at the AHL level. 

Asked specifically about Korpisalo returning, Staios was vague. 

“I know that he will perform at a better rate next year,” Staios said. “We’re going to look at all areas.”

Non-committal on Chychrun

On Thursday, we heard a rambling answer from defenceman Jakob Chychrun regarding a long term fit with the Senators. Chychrun has one year left on a contract with an AAV of $4.6M, but is due a $1-million bonus this summer and $6 million in salary next season. 

“It’s a tough question,” Chychrun said, after a pause. “I don’t know. I honestly haven’t thought about that. I have one year left and there haven’t been any talks of an extension or anything. I haven’t really gotten my head wrapped around that idea.”

If that was vague, so was the Staios response about locking up Chychrun long term. 

“I would say that Jakob Chychrun is a heck of a player,” Staios said. “I think that we saw his talents this year with our group.”

Staios added that this media conference was not the forum for discussing contracts, but added that “we think highly of Jakob Chychrun” and “we’ll look at all areas to see how it all fits.”

With Thomas Chabot and Chychrun playing a similar style of game and both left shots, it makes sense that Chychrun could be on the move. Chabot has four years left at $8M per. 

Oddly, Chychrun, with a history of games missed due to injury, played all 82 games this season while Chabot was injured on multiple occasions and played 51 games this season. 

The Sens have a dire need for a veteran right-shot defenceman. 

Norris expected to return in the fall

Hard luck centre Josh Norris missed most of the season with another shoulder injury and had surgery, his third, in March. 

Staios believes Norris will be fully ready to compete by training camp. 

“I think Josh is incredibly resilient,” Staios said. “I mean, all our players go through injuries at certain times. And Josh is dealing with another significant one so early in his career. But I think he’s doing very well with it, probably because he’s gone through it already. And he knows the routine. But I expect Josh to be 100 per cent healthy, both physically and mentally and we’ll support him on both sides of it.”

Yes, Norris sure knows the drill at this point. 

The problem from the point of view of the organization, Norris was signed to an eight-year contract by previous management in 2022 and has six years left at $7.95M. If they had considered moving on from Norris for the deadline or off-season, that ship has sailed until and unless Norris can prove he can stay healthy. 

The 24-year-old was a 35-goal scorer in 2021-22 but has averaged just 45 games played for the Senators in four seasons.